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Utah Jazz vs.The Ignorant
Posted by: Diana-Allen on May 5th, 2010
The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of the Utah Jazz.
There are many things that make me hate the Lakers. Many things that make me think that the Jazz get no respect from the national media. In one night and one night only I found five things that reiterated this to me.
1. While the Phoenix Suns were demolishing the SA Spurs, Kevin Harlan calling the game said, “Jarron Collins with the offensive rebound. Jarron Collins the long time starter for the Utah Jazz.” Well I must say at least Harlan knew that Collins played for the Jazz but my question who was he starting over, Boozer or Memo? Just one of those little things that show me that no one in the media outside of Utah cares or thinks about the Jazz.
2. While watching the NBA on TNT there was a commercial by the NBA that annoyed me too. The commercial was one of those commercials to get people excited about the playoffs and a movie. They were mixing scenes from NBA games and the Karate Kid. It started out with a shot of Kobe, then Lebron followed by the Lakers continuing on to have every team that is remaining in the playoffs except you guess it, the Utah Jazz. No quick shot of Booz yelling or Williams crossover… nothing! Even the Hawks were represented but of course not the Jazz.
3. On nba.com they had an article titled something like the Zen Master and his Complete Opposite (referring to Sloan). I thought why couldn’t they title it having Jerry being the focus instead of Phil Jackson.
4. Ronnie Brewer is listed on the Utah Jazz vs LA Lakers Series page on ESPN.com as the Jazz leader in steals. -Don’t you think he’d like to know he’s still playing for the Jazz?
5. The best thing yet I saw yesterday, it was actually published Sunday night was an article on espn.com, they’ve changed it since but you still get the incorrect version on your phone. It is by ESPN’s Dave McMenamin it said:
“Also C.J. Watson has replaced Korver in the starting lineup at small forward and undrafted rookie Gary Matthews, who starts at shooting guard, is playing with a chip on his shoulder after being snubbed by the NBA’s all-rookie first and second teams that were announced last week.”
So how do you think Matthews is going to feel by not only being snubbed on the all-rookie teams but being called Gary instead of Wesley. How do you think CJ Miles is going to feel when he finds out he was traded to GS for CJ Watson? And how is Korver going to feel when he finds out he was supposed to be starting all year and didn’t know?
The Jazz get no respect. It is us against the world. Lets go Jazz!
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The Jazz get NO respect, but they don’t need it! They really are the antithesis to the Lakers and their media ego-stroke.
It’s why, in my opinion, players like Mathews and others do well here — they already have a chip on their shoulder and want to prove that they don’t need all the media hype, they are good in their own right without the help from the official star treatment. It is also, unfortunately, why the Jazz sometimes shoot themselves in the foot — they get into moods where they want to badly to be treated the same as some of the media-loved teams and forget that their game is not that one.
They have to laugh all that stuff off and show the world, and themselves, how much better they are because they can compete without the media/league love. If they can play like that, they can crush the Lakers and anyone else. If they get caught in the trap, they are done.
Great post!!! I HATE the national media, except for the occasional one liner from Chuck Barkley.
Anyway, I just want to say I haven’t seen anything from the Jazz in this series to think they can’t beat the Lakers. They’ve had a few mental lapses that have put them behind the 8 ball a couple times but they’ve always recovered. They have had chances to win both games and if it weren’t for a few “questionable” calls by the blatantly biased refs we’d probably be coming back tied at the very least. Can’t wait for the Jazz to lay the smack down on Kobe and the rest of the “Flakers” on Saturday! Beating the Lakers has got to be one of the sweetest things to witness in sports. I know none of that had anything to do with the article but I just had to get it out there.
I know what the Jazz lack. Nastiness. They lack someone to do what Harpring did. What Manu and others do for the Spurs. Someone to say things to opposing players to get them out of their minds. To play tough, physically and make sure to every call against them there will be a hit the opposing player will remember he took. You just can’t have them beating you up with no calls on the paint and watch them play and laugh at you as if they were playing against children in a park. Damn, I’d foul out long before (or shortly thereafter) someone scored on my team and headed to defense laughing! I can’t live with that. I hate it so much that the Jazz are accepting those things so naturally. If I was out there, I could foul out in 7 minutes, but the Lakers would hate every single minute I was in there. What’s the point of committing soft fouls when the Lakers aren’t called for similar ones at the other end? If they’re calling against you anyway, make sure you at least beat the heck out of your guy in the process!
i hate the nocalls. we will get the ball and go down the court and feed it inside and get slapped and pushed ans shoved and wacked to the floor and the refs think that the fakers bigs are doing good defense. then when the fakers get the ball wesly will breathe on kobe and they call a foul on him. the refs probably say, “your are taking kobe’s, my main man, oxygen away from him.” i wonder if the refs actually no how to ref. all they have to do is blow a whistle. i agree with you Joe, if i was out there and was guarding kobe. he would have cracked ribs a minor concusion and broken fingers before i was done. i would foul out in 3 minutes . just give kobe wat he deserves!!!!!!!!!!
3 seconds left. the jazz inbound to deron williams, guarded by kobe. deron breaks his ankles, pulls up for the three………………….ITS GOOOD. Jazz win in 7 thanks to deron williams game winning three pointer!!!!!
I am with you Joe. The calls have been ridiculous this series. I was actually listening to something this morning that said well the Jazz should expect those kind of calls against the Lakers. IT made me so mad. I think the players should expect a fair called game. But everyone knows that won’t happen in LA or against Kobe. It drives me crazy that everyone (the media, Stern, coaches, players) just accept it.
It must be hard for the players to want to compete when they know they have to play 110% better to maybe have a shot at the game.
Lou- I think you’re right. If the Jazz ignore the refs, ignore the hype they can win. I think it is hard though when you’re trying to ignore the refs and you don’t get one break the entire game.
I honestly think we can take this to 7 games.
Diana,
Because basketball officiating is somewhat subjective, I guess you can’t expect the refs will always call a fair game. Watching some home Jazz games on TV, you can see the crowd affecting calls now and then. Obviously, this happens for LA as well. It’s not like there’s a conspiracy or something like that. The Jazz got calls in LA when they forced turnovers through charges, for instance. I think the refs are doing a very good job for most of things. But it certainly doesn’t seem so with their criteria about fouls in the paint. There seems to be one for LA and another for the Jazz. Boozer screaming after EVERY single shot attempt in the paint as if he was hacked doesn’t help the Jazz’s cause too… It’s gotten so cliche that the refs probably decided they won’t call any fouls for him ever again…
That said, here’s what I truly meant. Jazz players must react to the calls. Yeah, maybe they should expect the game to be called that way. I’m expecting the opposite for the games in Utah, right now! But expecting it or not, they gotta react to it. They gotta get Lakers’ players so mad and frustrated that THEY start doing things refs cannot let go. Manu did this to the Jazz in game 4 of the conference finals 3 years ago and I hated him badly for it. But the thing is: if the refs are killing you, your only choice is getting in the opposing players’ head and lead them to do dumb things. I don’t think Sloan will tell the players to do that, but he certainly did that as a player. And the Jazz seem too innocent right now. There’s nothing they can do about the Lakers’ length, but they certainly can do better than this about the lack of calls for them in the paint.
So yeah! They must ignore the refs and act where they stand a chance: the Lakers’ players!
Just remembered something. The Jazz need someone to do just what Rodman tried with Malone in those Finals. Damn, it seems so easy to go out there and provoke Artest or Gasol into a fight or something and get them ejected or suspended. The Jazz seem too innocent… If the Bulls could do that to us, I could live with the Jazz giving it back to the Zen Master.
Yeah, mr. jazz however the refs would probably call one of several things… A travel… a double dribble… time expired before the shot… a carry… Deron some how touched Kobe there for it is a offensive foul… the list goes on…..
I gotta go with Joe on this one too. The Jazz have to find a way to make their disadvantages go away or at least be reduced. Being nasty and getting in a couple of the Lakers’ heads might be something someone needs to do to give Utah a shot at winning this series.
Pau is soft people need to rough him up for sure send in Kofus to just get some hard fouls on him, hit him in the head (while going for the ball of course) and rile him up a bit. Let’s see if he can keep his composure like a Paul Millsap
I have also noticed the lack of Jazz appearances on NBA promotions. Why would they? We only have the best point guard on the planet. But no, NBA….go ahead and show Rajon Rondo. That’s fine.
I’ve resigned myself to the fact that we are not going to get the benefit ot the calls this series. It’s funny. I watched a show on tv last night that featured two mixed martial arts fighters. Neither finished the other off and the fight went to the judges. The judges totally blew it and gave the victory to the wrong guy, and everyone knew it. Then, the guy on the show said something pretty interesting. He said, “Never let the fight go to the judges.” Meaning: finish them off early, so there’s not a chance at a bad decision.
I think the Jazz need the same sort of mentality. Play so that the refs can’t affect the outcome. How can they do that? Playing smarter, harder, and better than the Lakers.
Games 1 and 2 were right there for the taking, despite getting crushed on the boards and having several of our shots blocked, alongside a lot of questionable officiating. We need to do a better job at boxing out, drawing contact in the paint when there is a good chance of our shots getting blocked, and just outwork the Lakers.
I think playing at the ESA is going to help. I think we’ll win games 3 and 4.